As I Find My Way Home
by Sail Away Mayday
Summary: The extended story of the water gun fight mentioned in 'Shadowed But Not Lonely.' A look into the transition of Alice and Jasper into the Cullen family. Pre-Twilight. One-shot.


**A/N: This is the extended story of the water gun fight from 'Shadowed But Not Lonely.' This will make sense on its own as well though, so no worries. I own nothing! Enjoy the story, and leave a review if you like!**

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Alice's concentration was broken entirely and suddenly when a vision rippled through her mind. Emmett whooped loudly as her distraction allowed him to gain the upper hand in Monopoly.

'What is it Alice?' Jasper asked quietly, directing his question at only Alice, and shielding her and her answer from the inquisitive expressions of the rest of the vampires. Jasper was still not used to a family atmosphere, and in his mind Alice and he were the only two.

Alice stared across the room, not particularly focusing on anyone or anything. Jasper was extremely tense, his eyes terrifying in their anxiety, his body rigid under the stress. He was still so new to this life, and Alice was his anchor. He was utterly useless without her guidance. It was obvious to his newly adopted family that the main cause of his fear was distrust. The only being Jasper could even hope to let his guard down around was Alice, and even that was done with a slight level of trepidation.

Suddenly, a hand flew inches from Jasper's left ear, and Emmett snapped his fingers impatiently.

'Hey there, little Alice,' he commanded, 'wake up.'

Jasper felt the feral growl rush up his throat and slip through his clenched teeth before he could even realise he wanted to react.

'Leave her be,' Jasper managed to snarl, not even bothering to take his eyes off of Alice, who was still staring wide-eyed at nothing.

Emmett was immediately contrite. 'I, uh, didn't mean her any disrespect, Jasper,' Emmett explained, 'it's just that Alice has such a cool gift. Much better than Edward's, I mean, he's just annoying.'

'I'm actually still in the room, thanks, Emmett,' Edward complained sardonically.

Jasper turned his head to locate Edward. He lay on his back, comfortably situated on the leather loveseat. His long legs were hanging over the armrest, and he held a tattered book in his hands. Edward was projecting such a perfect calm demeanour that Jasper had forgotten all about the sullen boy.

It actually rather unsettled Jasper that he'd been so unaware to the presence of someone in the same room as him.

Rosalie's increasingly protective growls broke through Jasper's mind next. He turned to her beautiful and irate face, and tried to keep an eye on Alice at the same time.

'I wouldn't start that if I were you,' he cautioned evenly, trying very hard to keep his mind on Alice, and not on losing his temper on one of his new siblings.

'Or you'll what?' Rosalie asked in a voice as deadly as a grenade. She was radiating fury and allegiance.

Jasper opened his mouth to speak, his retort halfway formed, when Alice blinked quickly and returned to the conversation.

'Be right back!' she said in a rush of air, and jumped off the chair.

Jasper's mind couldn't work as fast as his body, and he managed a 'wait, Alice, what's going on?' as he made giant steps across the room.

'Stay put and play nice, Jasper,' she called out in a trilling voice from down the hall, 'I'll be right back!'

Jasper sighed loudly, and sank into his chair, glaring glumly at the half finished Monopoly game that lay across the table.

Emmett and Rosalie promptly began ignoring Jasper, and retreated into a corner of the room, a heated card game now their focus.

Edward however, looked up from his book and caught Jasper's attention. 'This is a good thing,' he said cryptically, laying the book on his chest and blinking in some sort of sage way that reminded Jasper of an owl.

Jasper decided that Edward's ultra controlled nature was enormously irritating.

Alice hummed softly to herself as she half skipped, half danced down the hallway toward her destination. She began grinning as she thought of Jasper stuck in the family room with Edward, Emmett, and Rosalie. Guilt was gradually creeping into her conscience as well, but she brushed it away. He needed time alone to bond with everyone, after all. Besides, her latest vision had promised a positive change for the family.

In a matter of seconds, Alice was standing at a closed wooden door, listening to the soft sounds of music filtering out. Alice raised her tiny fist to knock three times.

'Come in, Alice,' a tinkling voice sounded.

Alice smiled brightly, thrilled to hear that Esme was able to recognise her so immediately now. It felt nice that things were so familiar now, so much like a real family.

When Alice swung open the door, she was taken aback, yet again, by Esme's appearance. She was so beautiful, so safe, so… _motherly_. It made a certain place in Alice's chest, a place that she couldn't remember feeling anything in before, ache so badly it startled her. She couldn't remember her real mother at all, couldn't remember if she'd even had a mother, though she imagined she had to have had one at some point in her life. She supposed it would have been refreshing to not be able to dwell on the past, and only look ahead. But in all honesty, it didn't do her any good to think about things in that matter.

'What can I do for you, Alice?' Esme asked sweetly. Her voice made Alice grin delightedly again.

Alice couldn't help herself anymore, and with a flurry of activity and decision making, she launched herself into Esme's arms. If Esme was at all startled by the impulsive display of affection, she concealed it expertly.

'What's this all about, love?' Esme questioned, laughing with delight and holding tightly onto Alice's petite frame.

'I just wanted to thank you for your wonderful idea,' Alice chirped, stepping out of Esme's embrace and beginning to gesticulate with her hands, 'and I want to let you know that I'll be more than happy to do whatever I can to help. Oh! And, also, this is going to work out great; everything will end up just how you want it.' She looked at Esme with wide, expectant eyes.

Esme was still smiling, but also looked perplexed. 'I'm glad for the vote of confidence and the offers to help, but what idea, precisely, are you referring to?'

Alice's eyes lit up and her voice became reverent as she announced, 'Christmas! Christmas for the whole family!'

Jasper was on the verge of having a relatively compelling temper tantrum. Alice had left him to go and do god-knew-what; left him in the company of the three people he was least comfortable with.

Of course, it had occurred to him that this had been her purpose all along. He supposed he did love her and all, but she seemed intent on constantly dictating his path. Or future. Or whatever it you want to call it.

It bothered him. She seemed so absorbed with making these people, these _strangers_, adore her. Well, adore both of them perhaps but really it often felt like just her. He didn't understand why they couldn't have just kept travelling together, discovering each other, learning to trust each other. He had just begun to appreciate and love her, and all he wanted was to keep that up. That relationship, the _two of them_, had been the only thing since he'd been human that had made any sense to him.

And now they were here. Alice intent on pleasing everyone she met, and Jasper rather left out in the cold. He didn't fit in with the rest of the group, and he recognised his difference as if it were a shining beacon. None of them understood a tenth of what he'd been though, not that he'd told them a thing. But he could feel their fear and suspicion and revulsion radiate from him whenever he was near. He constantly wondered why Alice wasn't attuned to these things now; she'd certainly been in synch with him in the two years before they'd started playing house.

'Stop being a jerk, and tell me if you have any spades,' a perfectly exquisite and infuriated voice demanded, breaking Jasper's concentration. He remained in his position in the chair, body perfectly motionless, eyes focusing on nothing.

'Jeez, you don't have to be so nasty,' Emmett's deeper but lively voice answered, 'I don't have any. Go fish.'

'What do you think Alice saw?' a quiet, reflective voice asked near Jasper. He immediately knew that it was Edward's voice, and that he was talking to him. Jasper didn't want to talk to anyone. He didn't want to talk about Alice. He wanted to take Alice away and keep her safe forever.

'I don't know. You read minds, right? Shouldn't you have heard what she was thinking?' Jasper didn't mean to come off so spiteful, but then he didn't mean a lot of things that happened.

If Edward was offended by Jasper's shortness, he didn't let it show at all. 'She darted out of here so fast, that her mind was all a blur, and I couldn't catch much,' he explained evenly, 'but I did catch a lot of excitement.'

'Joy,' Rosalie said dryly, dealing a new set of cards to both Emmett and herself.

He felt a sort of kinship with Rosalie at that moment. And that thought made him retreat back into his cynicism again. Although if he was being completely honest with himself, Jasper felt that her blunt frankness was utterly refreshing.

He had felt the same emotions roll off of Rosalie that he battled within himself constantly. She hid it well, he thought, but there was no lying to him about it. He found himself wondering what had happened to her, and wondering if she might understand him. The grief and rage and resentment that she carried around with her gave him proof that she could identify with his position.

'What's there to be excited about?' Emmett demanded, throwing his cards down as Rosalie won once again, 'the fact that Edward is going to lose to me at chess again?' a wry smile crossing his face.

'In your dreams, brother,' Edward responded in a bored tone, not even looking up from the book he still had propped in front of his face.

Emmett scoffed, and Rosalie let out a disgruntled hiss.

'Keep your opinions to yourself, Rosalie,' Edward smirked, 'they're not that important.'

Emmett's snarl had barely manifested itself when Rosalie made an aggressive move toward Edward and whispered, 'take it back.' Jasper was instantly put on edge by the acid in her voice. He began scrutinizing the actions of the three vampires in front of him, ready for the first sign that would tell him to run. Except in Alice's defence, Jasper never wanted experience with combat again.

'Make me,' Edward challenged, laying his book down next to him, and swinging up into a standing position so suddenly that Jasper stopped breathing entirely, every nerve in his body telling him a fight was imminent.

Rosalie had regained the tiniest bit of her composure, and smiled in true lethal assassin style at Edward. 'You're treading a dangerous path, brother.'

'I'd love to see you try.' Edward's reply was short and serious.

Emmett took the opportunity, placed himself between Rosalie and Edward, and launched himself at Edward's lithe frame.

Jasper was out of the room and upstairs before anyone could even think to stop him; before Edward and Emmett began laughing at their play fighting ritual and Rosalie began rolling her eyes at their juvenile behaviour. He had caught the emotions that he left behind, and if he'd had a heart, it would have been constricting madly. The levels of high negative emotions overpowering the room, and his reaction to them, made Jasper feel all the progress he'd made seem nonexistent.

Forty-eight seconds later, Alice was rushing into the room, gathering his still-shocked body into her embrace, kissing his head and face, and mumbling words to him that he barely heard but understood perfectly.

Jasper wondered if he'd ever be able to live without over reacting. Even Alice's constant reassurances that he would one day be fine did little to alleviate his uncertainties.

After Alice had flitted back downstairs to help Esme with one thing or another, Jasper had found Rosalie alone in the room that served as the Cullen library. He realised his chance to talk to her about their common difficulties, since she was so rarely unattached to Emmett.

This time of year bothers you too, doesn't it?' Jasper asked, already knowing her answer, but needing a conversation opener.

'More than anyone knows,' she answered sharply. 'Except for maybe Edward, but he doesn't really count.'

Jasper cringed at the statement, but then conceded its truthfulness. Edward was an odd character; he seemed to understand exactly what was going on all the time without truly being a part of any of it. But Jasper couldn't understand why Edward was such an outsider.

'You hide it well,' he observed. 'If I couldn't read your emotions, I would probably be just as fooled as everyone else.'

'Oh, they're not at all fooled,' Rosalie answered promptly.

This statement took Jasper aback. 'They're not saying anything about it,' he said incredulously, 'they aren't acting as if they even notice.'

'They know I need space sometimes,' Rosalie countered, 'and when I do, they give it to me.' She began twirling long pieces of her hair absentmindedly around her fingers. He'd noticed her doing that whenever anxiety surrounded her.

'How do you stand it?' he asked abruptly, subtly wasn't working anymore.

'Stand what?' she asked quietly

'Being here, living like this, I can feel your emotions, remember? I know you're miserable and angry just like me.'

'Maybe you should stop focusing so much on what emotions you're getting from people, and focus more on the actual people,' she whispered, not even wanting to meet his gaze, 'or maybe you should focus on your own emotional state. We're not the only transparent ones.'

She had him, and he knew it. She understood him, they had an understanding, but she also wasn't going to let him throw a pity party.

'Does it ever get better?' He had changed his tone now, he wanted to understand.

She sympathized with him; this was not an easy change. 'It does,' she decided, 'but it's hard. I hate it so much of the time, but really, they're amazing people. They love each other, and they love me; I'm surrounded by more love than I ever knew as a human. And I'll never be hurt again. What more can you ask for really?'

She gave him a meaningful look, and he felt slightly silly for his presumptuous attitude.

'Besides,' Rosalie continued, her voice softening, 'I can tell that Alice loves you more than life itself. You love her as well, and all she's trying to do is make everything easier for you. She wants you to be happy. And I'd trust her to know what the best way to achieve that happiness is; she seems to have a good handle on things like that.'

He laughed, thought of Alice and felt love warm his entire body.

'That she does.'

'Oh, what a beautiful mornin' oh what a beautiful day!' Esme sang happily, her eyes shining with a happiness Alice couldn't believe she was witnessing.

Alice sung along, smiling along at Esme's exuberance. She had been aware, of course, before she'd met Jasper, of Esme's affinity to Broadway musicals, but seeing it in practice was a different story somehow. Alice felt she could appreciate her new mother all that much more, being able to really pinpoint her idiosyncrasies. Alice couldn't remember ever listening to a musical before she lived with the Cullens, so she found herself enjoying the lessons.

'I've got a beautiful feeling,' Esme declared, her brilliantly soprano voice still ringing out clearly, 'everything's going my way!'

Alice clapped delightedly as the song ceased filling the room, and Esme looked as if she might have been blushing had she been able to before giving Alice a good-natured curtsy.

'What's that song from?' Alice asked delightedly, feeling as if she could listen to Esme discuss her passions for hours. Alice couldn't recall ever really having passions before, and every moment since she'd woken up had been filled only with finding Jasper and then the Cullens. She wondered now if she would ever have passions, and what they would be.

'A lovely show called _Oklahoma_,' Esme explained, 'it's been out for a few years, and it's one of my favourites. It's set nearly fifty years ago, out in the west. It's a love story of sorts.'

'It sounds like a nice story,' Alice said, 'I think I'd like to hear more songs from it.'

'That could certainly be arranged, Alice,' Esme answered softly, 'the boys aren't terribly interested in the theatre, and Rosalie only like instrumental music.'

Alice nodded very seriously now; feeling it her job to be Esme's co-supporter of the musical arts.

Rosalie sauntered into the kitchen at that moment, surveyed the two women in front of her, and stood by the door disinterestedly. 'Edward said you wanted me,' she said dryly.

'Yes!' Esme declared, 'you and I are going to be in charge of decorations for the house and the tree, and I'm going to have Alice and Edward go out on a mission for gifts.'

'Good idea,' Rosalie said deprecatingly, 'then maybe something will be a shock for once.'

'Rosalie!' Esme said sharply, giving her a warning look that Alice could discern from across the kitchen.

Alice chose to ignore Rosalie's fit and instead asked expectantly, 'So, do you think we should have a real tree or an artificial one?' She was in full creator mode, it helped settle her apprehension. She knew that Rosalie truthfully wasn't mean, that she had simply had a life full of disappointment, and was now desperate to protect the only people who'd ever protected her. If anything, Alice was quite envious of Rosalie's intrepid attitude, she seemed a force to be reckoned with.

'I think a real tree adds just the sense of charm that we're looking for,' Esme said, her brow furrowed in concentration.

Rosalie leaned against the kitchen counter, making occasional disgruntled noises.

Alice wanted her new sister's input, no matter how disinterested Rosalie behaved. 'What do you think, Rosalie?' she asked, her voice rising slightly with excitement.

When she turned and stalked out of the room though, Alice tried not to let the pain it caused show through her eyes.

Emmett had always been good at diffusing difficult situations. Hell, he'd lived with a moody younger brother, a spitfire wife, and two parents who he felt had to walk on eggshells large portions of the time. But Jasper, his new brother, was throwing Emmett for quite a loop. At the current moment, Jasper sat in one corner of the room, staring straight in front of him, and seemingly ignoring anyone and everyone. Again. It was making Emmett nervous. What on earth did Jasper have to be so damn uneasy about? The only one who'd even consider doing Jasper any bodily harm was Rosalie, and she was selective about her physical exertions.

So Emmett watched. He liked to think that he'd become remarkably adept at reading body language and understanding how humans worked since his change, he even considered it his power of sorts from time to time. Sometimes, it was hard not being known for anything but being ridiculously strong. Emmett watched some more, and when he felt he might be able to make some progress, he asked calmly, 'Any idea what Alice is planning?'

Jasper didn't move any part of his body but his mouth, which Emmett still considered a victory, and said in a blank voice, 'She's putting together a Christmas celebration. It's Esme's idea, but Alice'll do anything to fit it where she feels she needs to.'

'She's a good planner,' Emmett observed astutely, 'she's very good at putting together something grand for everyone's enjoyment. It's hard to do that without your head spinning off into another orbit.'

Jasper's stoic façade cracked ever so slightly, and Emmett caught the small fissures as Jasper mumbled, 'sometimes I swear she's not far from that. I try to stay out of her way when she gets going too much.'

'Smart guy,' Emmett mumbled, and the two men lapsed into the comfortable yet seemingly awkward of men who had said all they needed to say and didn't need meaningless chatter to fill the silences.

'So how do you feel about holidays, Emmett?' Jasper asked quietly, almost sheepishly. He actually turned his face slightly toward Emmett's.

Emmett grinned and felt terribly proud of Jasper. 'I don't really have concrete feelings,' Emmett answered honestly and to the point, 'I do seem to remember Christmas as being a huge deal when I was human. I remember my mother cooking a lot. You?'

Jasper had all but given up on remembering his human life, it didn't matter anymore he figured, so he answered, 'I don't remember a thing about holidays, so I'm a little uneasy honestly.'

Emmett grinned wider, and felt that they had reached an appropriate man moment where a friendly clap on the back would be acceptable. 'I hear what you're saying, Jazz! Is it okay if I call you Jazz?'

Jasper was too taken aback by the fact that he hadn't felt the need to defend himself from Emmett to worry about nicknames, so he just nodded dazedly.

'Alright Jazz,' Emmett said with zest, 'Carlisle is just about to walk through the door, and I think Esme wants us to go with him on some sort of errand for this whole Christmas mess. You game?'

Jasper could do nothing but nod, and feel slightly proud of himself.

Alice found Edward laying across the couch in his room, his arm laying across his eyes in an attempt to filter out the weak winter sunlight.

'What on earth are you listening to?' Alice demanded, her accusatory tone falling apart almost as soon as she began speaking. She fell into giggling as Edward peeked out at her from under his arm.

'_Puttin' On The Ritz,_' he responded, dumbfounded that she didn't know the song. When she cocked her head in further confusion, he added, 'by Fred Astaire.'

'Nope,' Alice chirped happily, 'sorry, never heard of either.' She pranced over the couch, pushed his feet over and made herself comfortable.

Edward covered his eyes again, and sighed heavily. Already, he knew he adored Alice like the little sister he'd never had, and already he knew he couldn't say no to anything she asked of him. 'I'll be ready to go shopping in about two minutes,' he told her slowly, trying to hide his amusement at Alice's thoughts, 'and I think your gift idea is going to have all sorts of interesting consequences.'

She playfully swatted him, and demanded, 'stay the hell outta of my head!'

'That wasn't a very ladylike thing to say,' Edward murmured, 'now hush, my song _is_ still on.'

'I'm not a lady,' Alice said sticking her tongue out and bearing her perfect teeth, 'I'm a vampire.'

'You certainly are,' Edward laughed, 'and I must admit you are positively frightening.'

Alice nodded, and leaned back against Edward's knees and the back of the couch.

'He'll come around, you know,' Edward spoke softly, 'it'll take time, but he'll get there. You didn't make a bad choice.'

'I thought I told you to stay out my head,' Alice shot back, but she wasn't able to put quite the right amount of silliness into it this time. She was quiet for a few seconds, and then she whispered, 'it's hard for Jasper. He can't see the certainty of this working like I can. I worry that he thinks I feel like he's not good enough to be all I ever need.'

Edward observed his newest sister pensively, choosing his words carefully. 'Alice,' he began gently, 'that vampire out there loves you more than life itself. And I know right now he's having a tough time of it, but you two have only been here for a matter of weeks. He's got many years to try and erase, which is hard for our kind. Especially when we've had such traumatic pasts. Time soothes all, little Alice.'

Alice grinned at Edward, 'You're not half bad for a mind reader.'

He laughed out loud, 'Yeah? Well you're not half bad for a psychic, kid.'

'Don't call me kid!'

'Roger that.'

She snapped at him in mock fierceness as he ruffled her already disorderly black hair.

Jasper was impressed that it only took Alice eight hours to get everything completely set up and ready for the best Christmas either of them could remember having. Emmett, Carlisle, and himself had trekked out into the forest and, after an impromptu snack of deer, had found a giant fourteen foot white pine tree and drug it back to the house.

Rosalie and Esme had been busy setting the entire house up with Christmas decorations, including mistletoe, under which Jasper couldn't wait to corner Alice. And when he walked into the house and smelled the fresh pine scent, he could almost remember being human and sixteen years old and having a mother and father.

When Alice and Edward returned to the house, giggling and almost pink in the cheeks from merriment and the effort of their shopping activities, Jasper felt his first completely genuine burst of happiness since he and Alice had shown up on the Cullens' doorstep. Edward caught his eye across the room and Jasper nodded infinitesimally in appreciation. Edward closed his eyes briefly in thanks, and Jasper turned his attention back to Alice.

As soon as he opened his arms to her, she launched across the room with the ferocity of a crazed chipmunk and landed gracefully in his embrace. As she smothered his senses with her kisses, he felt traces of embarrassment and amusement as the crowd around reacted to the amount of physical affection. Jasper and Alice had never felt the need to put a show of their love on for anyone but themselves before.

Emmett grinned wickedly and Esme beamed proudly, as Carlisle cleared his throat and began, 'I'm so glad we are able to all be here as a complete family to celebrate this lovely time of year. Now I don't want to keep anyone waiting, so Alice, I believe you can take it from her.

Alice grinned like a maniac from her position in Jasper's lap, and exclaimed, 'Presents!'

Jasper watched with rapt attention as Alice handed a present to Esme, who was delighted to be presented with an LP of the new musical _South Pacific._ Alice had winked and announced, 'it's supposed to be quite good. I believe it may even become quite a hit.' Everyone had laughed at her innocent expression.

Edward had handed Carlisle a set of beautifully bound medical journals. 'They're filled with all the latest ideas and treatments,' Edward had said, seeming slightly self-conscious when Carlisle let his emotions and thoughts run away with him.

'They're perfect, son,' he whispered, and Jasper swore he could hear the tears in the kind doctors words, 'I've never gotten such a thoughtful gift.

Jasper felt an enormous bought of sympathy for his new father figure at that moment. Jasper's own change had been so horrific in so many unexplainable ways, that he had never imagined changing someone else. He couldn't stand the thought of that on his conscience. But Carlisle had done that exact thing _four times_, and all of his fledglings adored him. Jasper never wanted to see Maria again.

Jasper's musings were interrupted when a small brightly coloured package was thrust into his hands. He could feel the anticipation emanating from both Alice and Edward, and he was afraid again. Not _of them_ but of whatever tomfoolery was concealed in the present in his lap.

'Best present ever!' Emmett boomed, holding up a Green Hornet knuckle water gun in his hand victoriously.

Rosalie rolled her eyes predictably, until she found herself face to face with an Atomic water pistol. She grinned wickedly, held the plastic gun up to Emmett's face, and squeezed the trigger.

His mouth dropped open in absolute shock, and as he prepared to return fire, he muttered, 'I knew there was a reason I married you…twice.'

She shot him again in the face before he was able to get the upper hand on her.

Jasper was too busy watching the exchange going on before his eyes, that he didn't notice Alice and Edward unwrapping their presents, Batman and Flash Gordon squirt guns respectively, until they were ambushing him.

After that, he'd never opened a present as fast as he attempted to remove his own weapon, to assure a fair fight. As soon as he held up the white Tomi Gun automatic water pistol, Esme cried out over the din, 'Everyone outside with those! Don't get the house wet!'

Like the teenagers they all pretended to be, the group of five stampeded out of the house and into the open yard. Within moments, battle lines were drawn and teams assigned.

Carlisle and Esme stood at the picture window and watched the mayhem unfold. Carlisle had thought to put the new record on, and as she listened to it, Esme found that she was quite fond of this _South Pacific_ show and hoped that it did indeed do well over the years; although, she had the utmost confidence in Alice after recent events.

'It's starting to snow,' Carlisle remarked, staring out at his rambunctious family under the darkening sky.

'I love the snow,' Esme responded, pulling Carlisle to her and starting a slow dance to the song currently playing.

'I know you do, love,' Carlisle stated, kissing the top of Esme's head gently. As they danced he listened to the song and quoted the lines he heard, '"Once you have found her, never let her go."'

'I like that,' Esme whispered against his chest, 'I like that a lot.'

When the snow had started falling and the water guns were thus abandoned Jasper felt himself smile as he stopped to survey the antics of his family. _Family_. What a strange word to be using now; after almost a century it was nice to understand the concept.

He knew Alice was approaching before she pressed her small freezing hands into the small of his back.

'It's nice, isn't it,' she purred, wrapping her arms around him, and tucking her face between his shoulder blades.

'You did a good job, sweetheart,' he whispered, gently pulling her around to face him. And he believed what he said

'This is where we belong,' she replied simply, 'together for the rest of time. I told you so.' She stuck her tongue out at him, and he captured her mouth in a searing kiss, nearly surprising her.

'I should never go against anything you say, should I?'

'Never,' she answered certainly, all the while grinning madly, 'it's all together unwise.'

As he leaned down for another kiss, he was stunned by a half-frozen snowball being shoved down the back of his shirt.

He couldn't believe he hadn't felt the mischief radiating from her.

'You little minx,' he half-growled, half-laughed, leaning down to gather up his own snowball. Before his fingers even touched the snow, Alice was already off, darting across the yard like a hummingbird.

'Come and get me,' she dared, her exquisite tinkling voice riding on the wind.


End file.
